It is only natural to wonder where you stand on the wait list at your transplant center. Sometimes this information will put you at the ready and sometimes it will frustrate you. No problem. Whether the information is to your liking or not, its mere publication underscores OPTN’s commitment to as transparent a process as is reasonably possible. Remember, these are only statistics and heart transplantation is a very real, very human experience.

While these heart transplant statistics may give you a hint of your standing at the transplant center, they in no way tell the whole story. There are more factors than time on the wait list, status and blood type. Geographic location, overall health and body size are just three of the plug-in components. There are others.

At first, I was enthralled with the tracking capabilities of OPTN. I have attached a link on the home page of this web log. Viewers can filter heart transplant statistics about the national, state, or even specific transplant center. There are also numbers available for post transplant information and year-to-date activity. If you want to have a very general overview of your standing, take a look, but don’t become enamored with the stats. A call to the transplant coordinator’s office may provide the most valuable insight.

I can remember having a discussion with a terrific nurse practitioner about the number of patients in my blood type (A positive) on the center’s wait list. I was surprised when she told the cardiologist that I knew more about the Columbia Pres transplant wait list than did she.

Hurry up and wait!

Here are some heart transplant statistics that you may find interesting.

2,028 hear transplants were performed in the U.S. in 2009. 2.109 in 2008 and 2210 in 2007.

Worldwide approximately 3,500 transplants were performed worldwide in 2009.

Worldwide, there are 800,000 people with a Class IV heart defect and need a new organ.

72.4 percent of heart transplant patients are male. 65.5 percent are Caucasian. 54.2 percent are age 50 or older.

Quite simply, there are not enough heart organs to go around. This dilemma pressures the system and makes it imperative that organs go to compliant patients who are in the physical and mental condition to accept the precious heart.

This chart from OPTN denotes the historical survival rates of men and women for 1, 3 and 5 years:

Region

Recipient
Gender

Years
Post Transplant

Number Functioning /
Alive

Survival
Rate

95% Confidence
Interval

U.S.

Male

1 Year

3931

87.5

(86.5, 88.4)

U.S.

Female

1 Year

1433

85.6

(83.8, 87.3)

U.S.

Male

3 Year

4856

78.9

(77.8, 79.9)

U.S.

Female

3 Year

1726

76.0

(74.2, 77.7)

U.S.

Male

5 Year

4514

72.4

(71.3, 73.5)

U.S.

Female

5 Year

1488

67.4

(65.4, 69.3

This chart denotes the survival rate of recipients as classified by status at the time of transplantation.

Region

Recipient UNOS Status at Trans

Years
Post Transplant

Number Functioning /
Alive

Survival
Rate

95% Confidence
Interval

U.S.

Heart Status 1A

1 Year

2098

85.4

(84.0, 86.8)

U.S.

Heart Status 1B

1 Year

1839

86.6

(85.1, 88.1)

U.S.

Heart Status 2

1 Year

1425

89.9

(88.4, 91.5)

U.S.

Heart Status 1A

3 Year

2365

74.6

(73.1, 76.2)

U.S.

Heart Status 1B

3 Year

2402

79.7

(78.2, 81.1)

U.S.

Heart Status 1

3 Year

50

77.1

(65.6, 88.6)

U.S.

Heart Status 2

3 Year

1761

81.0

(79.3, 82.7)

U.S.

Heart Status 1A

5 Year

999

67.4

(65.1, 69.8)

U.S.

Heart Status 1B

5 Year

1046

72.1

(69.8, 74.4)

U.S.

Heart Status 1

5 Year

2273

71.1

(69.6, 72.7)

U.S.

Heart Status 2

5 Year

1681

72.8

(71.0, 74.6)

I regularly visited the OPTN site and filtered information about the number of patients on the waiting list at Columbian Presbyterian and later at Tampa General. That way, I could measure the number of patients waiting and the number of transplants that had actually been performed at the center.

At one point, the number of patients waiting at Columbia exceeded the number of annual transplants by more than 2-1 and at one point almost a 3-1 ratio existed. That is one reason why, after 18 months and one false alarm, I decided it was time to look into other centers, a practice actually recommended by Dr. Oz, one of Columbia Presbyterian’s foremost surgeons. Dual listing is permitted by UNOS and most transplant centers, but not by all insurance carriers.

After being diagnosed with heart failure, one of my very good friends, a non-practicing physician, advised me that, “In the business of medicine, when you are a patient in need and standing in line, you are in a bad place in a terribly flawed system.”

I took those knowledgeable, experienced words to heart and made it my cause to never be standing in line waiting for help that may not arrive. I must confess frustration that at times there seemed no way around certain aspects of a stressful system.

It did seem that the donor award system was flawed, sometimes unjust and contrary to the donor’s wishes. I do not presume to have a solution to a system that many of the physicians at the core of the transplant profession agree is tainted. But, I am working on an opinion and welcome all suggestions.

Inbound Links

It is important for patients awaiting transplant to remain positive and hopeful about their short and long term prognosis. This approach provides physical, mental and spiritual benefits for the patient and the family around him/her. Due to the shortage in hearts a positive mental additude goes a long way with the doctors and clinics to try to help. So, do your best to keep smiling even though you might feel otherwise. I am a survivor and feel great.

Howdy, Hiland from myhearttransplant.net here. I think you posted a lead to your article on our comment section. THanks for visiting but your info is inacurate. OPTN updates their data every hour of every day. I am not sure where you got the idea that statistics are not available post 2009. My guess is that it is from dated material.

Your know there are a lot of people that really benefit from this information. Please do not author misconceptions. That could be very damaging. Please only provide accurate data that you can support. I do not think you understand the severity of false information. There is a lot of junk on the Internet. Let’s get this information straight. I hope you will retract this error. Thank you, Hiland

Following my 2009 Heart Transplant at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, I was able to be recertified by the Federal Aviation Administration and be issued a medical certificate allowing me to exercise the privileges of my pilot certificate. Following the
instructions for post transplant activities, diet, exercise and medications published by Mayo have provided me the ability to go back
to work and to enjoy life to its fullest. Having been on a VAD for several months seemed frustrating, but in the long run it paid off and
enabled me to be survivor in perfect health. Thank you Mayo.

Hello My Name is Larry W. Guffey and I received a heart transplant at Presbyterian Hospital in Albuquerque, NM. in 1993 at that time I was 46 years old my heart was from a 19 year old. Now 20 years latter I am still able to do things that I could not due at 46. This is primarily due to the fact that I have been taking a natural product called Pro Argi 9+ for the past 8 years. I was able to decrease my medication from 17 prescribed medications to only 3 prescribed medications for my heart. If anyone is interested please feel free to contact me. Larry W. Guffey 505-320-6662, PO Box 2275 Bloomfield, NM 87413, wilmawlguff@aol.com Question does anyone have any statistics on the longest living functional transplants?